USC's JuJu Smith-Schuster during practice on Howard Jones field at USC Wednesday, August 24, 2016. (Photo by David Crane/SCNG, file)

Long Beach Poly's JuJu Smith-Schuster has a big family that takes over the stands with its own cheering section at Jackrabbit football games. Long Beach, CA. on October 11, 2013. (Photo by Sean Hiller/SCNG, file)

In front of a national television audience and surrounded by his large family, Long Beach Poly football player John “JuJu” Smith announces that he will play football for USC during a ceremony at Poly in Long Beach, CA on Wednesday, February 5, 2014. The other schools he was considering were Oregon, Notre Dame and UCLA. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze)

In August of 2011, then-Long Beach Poly football coach Raul Lara pointed to a skinny sophomore receiver whose ears stuck out so far they got caught on his helmet as he slid it on, and delivered a bold proclamation: “That kid right there will be one of the best to ever come out of Poly.”

The receiver was at that time anonymous. He’d never played a varsity snap and his name was listed on the roster simply as “John Smith,” which at the time seemed like perhaps simply a placeholder listing.

Six years later, JuJu Smith-Schuster enters the NFL Draft poised to make his high school coach look like a very smart man. The Jackrabbit and USC great is the youngest player in this year’s draft at just 20 years old, and is projected to go somewhere between the late first round and the middle of the second round.

Many things have changed since the days when Lara was the only prominent voice in Southern California touting the future superstar. For one, Smith-Schuster filled out considerably in high school on a combination of his mother’s Samoan cooking and a steady diet of weightlifting. By the time he left Poly, he looked NFL-ready despite being a year young for his grade.

“JuJu’s senior year he looked like an NFL safety, like the day he graduated he already looked like an NFL safety,” said current Poly football coach Antonio Pierce, who is also an NFL analyst for ESPN.

He was already famous locally by the time he left Poly, having earned All-American status and led the Jackrabbits to a 2012 CIF championship blowout win over rival Mater Dei. When he announced he was leaving USC for the NFL early this year he was known nationally, both for his hard-nosed physical receiving play and a stiff-arm of a Utah player that went viral.

He was also known coast to coast by a different name after he officially changed his name to JuJu Smith-Schuster, the first name adopting his grandmother’s nickname for him, the hyphenated last name taking his stepfather’s surname as a tribute to his status in his life.

Family has remained an important constant for Smith-Schuster, who has six siblings. In high school, asked if he was better at catching footballs or changing diapers, he smiled and answered without hesitation, “Diapers for sure.”

Smith-Schuster has always been comfortable having fun on camera and in person. In high school, he would wear gear from a different college every day because he got a kick out of tweaking recruiting reporters, who tweeted that he had Alabama gloves one day and a UCLA phone case the next. In college he was often seen on USC’s campus wearing his little brother’s Minions backpack, and videos of him dancing on the field between plays went viral.

That personality has been part of what’s made him a star off the field, as much as his play has made him a star on it. He’s already been featured on NFL Network’s Back to Campus series, touring Poly and USC with fellow Jackrabbit/Trojan Willie McGinest, and on ESPN’s Hey Rookie series. That’s a lot of air time for a guy who’s not in the league yet.

“He’s always been a fun kid,” said Lara. “That’s never changed about him and I don’t think it ever will.”

Asked about the process of preparing for life in the NFL, Smith-Schuster admitted it’s been a grind, but it’s also been a lot of fun.

“You grow up watching SC games with your family and then you’re playing for USC, and you grow up watching the NFL and suddenly you’re meeting Jerry Jones and Bill Belichick,” he said. “It’s surreal.”

Smith-Schuster wasn’t shy about telling people during his senior year of high school that he could never play somewhere that his family couldn’t watch him, and with dozens of family members behind him that Signing Day, he opted for USC. When he made the announcement on ESPN that he would become a Trojan and signed his scholarship, he wore a shirt with his grandmother’s face on it, because she’d passed away that year and he wanted her to be there with him too.

This time is different, and he has no choice over where his journey at the next level will start on Thursday or Friday.

“It would be huge to stay home,” he said. He and his mother, Sammy Schuster, noted happily that with the Rams and Chargers in SoCal, there’s now a 1-in-16 chance he’ll still be here.

“We wanted the Raiders too,” laughed Sammy. “Bring them all to L.A.”

A few weeks after Lara placed his highest expectations on Smith-Schuster, the sophomore tied a 50-year old school record by catching a 99-yard touchdown pass against Carson. There weren’t many fans in the stands that night, but there were dozens of family members on hand to see JuJu’s first varsity game. Smith-Schuster is planning on staying home and watching the NFL Draft with those same family members, the one’s who’ve been with him from the start.

“No matter what happens in the draft, that’s who it’s all about,” he said.

Mike Guardabascio has been writing professionally for 15 years and covering Long Beach sports for a decade. His work has been published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous awards and is the author of the historical book "Football in Long Beach" and co-author of "Basketball in Long Beach."

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